External Hard Drive error ~$WV.FAT32

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  1. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #11

    OK, you have done a good job.

    By way of explanation, we are using WinRAR just to explore the drive in question, since it can show all hidden and even superhidden files and enable us to delete any unwanted files. No other WinRAR operation is required.

    Just doubleclick on the selected drive to show its contents.

    External Hard Drive error ~$WV.FAT32-09-03-2013-10-06-05.jpg

    Getting back to your screenshots,

    1. Remove any other external drive/s and have only the drive on which we operate.( I see another Letrang external drive.)

    2. Explore the problem drive. I think PRIVATEz is the only folder that contains all your data. Leave it alone. Select Letrang Shortcut , right click and "Delete files". Select Thumbs db and do the same. Next select System Volume Information and ditto. This will clear its contents to the Recycle Bin but the folder itself will remain. Let it. Finally repeat the operation on the Recycle Bin. First it will clear its contents. Repeat the operation again to delete the Recycle Bin itself. Give administrator permission if required. ( A new Recycle Bin will be created). Close WinRAR.

    3. Now safely remove your external drive. (If need be shut down your computer, plug it out and reboot..)

    4. Plug-in your external drive and check whether you are able to gain access to your data.

    If not, we shall then get into Recovery mode.

    I have other observations on the screenshots but for now I shall take a break, have a shave and shower and be back.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 18
    windows 7 ultimate 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #12

    Jumanji

    1. Alright, done!

    2. oooohh i'm nervous bout this deletin. haha! Letrang shortcut and Thumbs.db has been deleted. Selecting the System volume information, what do you mean by "ditto"?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       #13

    Flippylumpy said:
    Jumanji

    1. Alright, done!

    2. oooohh i'm nervous bout this deletin. haha! Letrang shortcut and Thumbs.db has been deleted. Selecting the System volume information, what do you mean by "ditto"?
    I expect so Flippy but best wait to see what Jumanji says as I am not really sure he is a lot more clued up on this than me:)
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 18
    windows 7 ultimate 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #14

    I guess Jumanji means bout ditto is delete too. haha

    Aw men, opening "My Computer"...the amount of files on my external is still there. But when i open it, It's empty.

    Here's the weird and happy part for me, using winrar, i can view all of my files again! wow! hha

    What should i do next to return it to normal?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #15

    Yep, Flippylumpy,

    As I said WinRAR is used here to view and delete all unwanted/suspicious files even the superhidden files.. So here it is just delete all except your data folders/files.

    Ok, I knew that you may see an empty drive.:) ( If you go into Disk Management, can you see that it still shows only about 70 GB free? Rest your data.)

    The virus has hidden all your files. WinRAR shows you all.

    OK I think the job now is simpler. Just unhide all files and change the attributes.

    1)Click on "Start"

    2) In the Search field type run

    3) In the dialog box click on Run to bring the run dialog box.

    4) Enter the following command .

    attrib -h -r -s /s /d h:\*.*

    ( Here h: is your external drive. Check the drive letter of your external drive and substitute with the correct drive letter. For example if your drive letter is J then

    attrib -h -r -s /s /d j:\*.*

    Click on OK.

    Now you should be able to see all the files.

    Once these are unhidden, thoroughly check the drive with an antivirus program.

    Do report when done. ( I am very poor in writing commands.:))

    .
    Last edited by jumanji; 09 Mar 2013 at 08:45. Reason: typos corrected.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 18
    windows 7 ultimate 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #16

    Hi! I'm very sorry for this soo late reply, schedules has been so hectic.

    after doing what you have said, all the hidden files that i can only see through WinRar has been shown, into two folders.

    One is, a blank folder, which all of my files are in.
    The other is $RECYCLE.BIN

    And I'm done on scanning them all and detected some virus, which is just some game cracks and unimportant stuffs. What should i do next master? :)
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #17

    That's about all.

    I hope you can access all the files/folders you want and those are ok.

    What I say here now is optional but recommended.

    1. Backup all your wanted data into another drive.

    2. Download Windows Executable (works without installation) version of HDD Lowlevel format tool from HDDGURU: HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool

    3.Also download the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool 2.2.3 from Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool 2.2.3 Free - Windows-based Format Utility for HP Drive Key or DiskOnKey USB Device - Softpedia This is again a Windows executable requiring no installation.

    4. Reboot and plug-in only this external drive which you want to sanitise. ( Remove all other external drives/pendrives so that you don't make a mistake of selecting a wrong drive)


    5. Run the lowlevel format Tool and do the lowlevel format. This will write zeroes on all sectors and initialise the drive to the factory condition. You will see the progress bar and wait till it completes. Close the tool when done.

    External Hard Drive error ~$WV.FAT32-1select-drive.jpg

    External Hard Drive error ~$WV.FAT32-2llformat.jpg

    6. Now do a regular format with the HP Tool. Right click on the executable and Run as administrator. When format is complete , close the tool

    External Hard Drive error ~$WV.FAT32-3.format-.jpg

    Now your drive is as clean and new as fresh from the factory.

    You may transfer all your data back to it.

    ( Do ensure that your computer and other drives attached to it are virus-free)

    If your problems are resolved mark this thread as solved.

    What we have done thus far:

    1. Check for any suspicious and other files/ folders and delete them keeping only the wanted folders/files using WinRAR (which can show even superhidden files)

    2. Unhide the rest of the files/folders which the virus had hidden

    3. Sanitise the drive leaving nothing to chance.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #18

    jumanji job well done. I do have a question if I may.

    In the OP post #16

    **And I'm done on scanning them all and detected some virus, which is just some game cracks and unimportant stuffs. What should i do next master? :)**

    Could such things be the beginning of the problem you just helped the OP fix?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #19

    Quite possible. These were in his data folder presumably, which we did not touch and exactly the reason why I had recommended that after unhiding, he should run a virus check.

    We have no details of what virus he found. ( Even if he had given, I would have no clue about the nature of the virus - for I had never encountered a virus in my computer life plus I know nothing of game cracks he had mentioned. At best I can only refer him to Virus Specialists and the System Security sub-forum. :))

    Having said that, since he had mentioned about the shortcut virus I made a quick search on it and I was intent on looking for the autorun.inf file and that was the intention of using WinRAR. Fortunately it was not there. Then I had to work on the basic theory of eliminating anything other than his data files and he only had the shortcut, apart from the System Volume Information and Recycle Bin which can also host any virus.

    Honestly, I still do not know what created the ~$WV.FAT32 error. My web search proved futile with no tangible info on it but once the addendums were deleted he was able to open his data folder in WinRAR without the error message. So my delete theory worked.:) Obvious now that they indeed were hosting some malware. Initially I believed he had a FAT32 format and the virus whatever it was had destroyed the file system or Norton which took control had destroyed it. But when he put the screenshot, I saw NTFS - so the file system was intact.

    Well, it was quite an interesting problem I had worked upon and yep, it gives me great satisfaction that I have done what best I can do to help the OP. I would think the OP is more educated now and can deal with problems of this nature on his own.

    Now a question to the OP which I always wanted to ask but always forgot

    "Was the Letrang shortcut created by you or was it created by the virus?"
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #20

    For the information the OP gave you to work with you did get the problem fixed. I'm not sure what unimportant stuffs means. If a virus scan found it and removed it it must be important. Would be nice to know what that unimportant stuff was.
      My Computer


 
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